1. Peyton Manning participates in a Zoom meeting with Bills QBs
Future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning has been making a few appearances with NFL clubs during their virtual meetings on Zoom recently. He revealed his time spent with a few NFL clubs in an interview with ‘Football Morning in America’ columnist Peter King. Among his meetings was one with the Buffalo Bills quarterbacks.
"I've done a few Zoom calls," he said. "I did the Buffalo Bills quarterback room meeting. Did the Los Angeles Rams full team meeting. Did the Bears quarterbacks."
Manning outlined how the crux of his message was for the quarterbacks to set up their own Zoom meetings with different position groups on the offensive side of the ball. It's what his brother Eli did with the Giants during the 2011 lockout.
"The NFL lockout was somewhat similar in the fact that it was truly a lockdown. Couldn't talk to the coaches. Couldn't go into the facilities. Eli talked about organizing their own workouts and taking some ownership. Eli got practice scripts, like blitz walk-through drawings, diagrams, he got practice jerseys, he organized workouts at a high school. He was kind of the head coach/coordinator and they were doing full routes and doing 7-on-7 and blitzes at practice. He was really thorough.
That year the Giants were in the Super Bowl and beat the Patriots.
"That was kind of my message, you know, follow Eli's lead," Manning said. "Quarterbacks, take ownership. All these Zoom meetings, right now, the coaches are leading them. My message was to the quarterbacks. 'Hey, organize your own Zoom meetings without the coaches, just get you and the tight ends, you and the receivers.' It's actually an opportunity to even have better communication. Because there's nothing else to do, right? Hey, every Tuesday, 9 a.m., quarterbacks and the offensive line, Zoom, watching film. Instead of complaining about it, see it as an opportunity to really improve. There's no reason you shouldn't have every play from last year studied down to the T."
Manning shared how he would breakdown film from the previous season, watching all the bad stuff first. The interception tape. The sack tape.
"You figure out why you're throwing these interceptions. What drill do I need to incorporate into the offseason to fix that? The coaches shouldn't lead everything. Josh Allen seemed really excited about that."
So excited that he, along with some help from Stefon Diggs, set up on-field training as well down a Bommarito Sports training in south Florida.
"I think the team that wins it all this year is going to be the team that's really getting an edge during this time—kind of like the Giants in 2011," Manning said.
2. Ray-Ray McCloud part of clean up effort in Tampa
Amidst the unfortunate acts of vandalism and looting that have coincided at times with the nationwide protests for social equality and justice, there have been encouraging volunteer cleanup efforts that have taken place often the morning after.
Bills receiver Ray-Ray McCloud was one of the volunteers cleaning up in his native Tampa area with his younger brother Jordan, a quarterback at the University of South Florida.
They along with some other pro football players including Bengals WR Auden Tate and CB Isaiah Rodgers were picking up debris left in the street of a strip mall.
3. Bills specialists also getting together
The players on Buffalo's offense, who assembled in south Florida last weekend isn't the only side of the ball getting together. The New York Times just did a profile on Bills long snapper Reid Ferguson and his younger brother Blake, who will be an NFL rookie long snapper for the division rival Dolphins this fall. Also revealed in the story is how Reid has been practicing with a couple of other specialists on Buffalo’s roster.
Joining the Ferguson brothers on the practice field in Georgia on a high school field has been punter Kaare Vedvik and rookie kicker Tyler Bass.
Vedvik used to drive all the way from Birmingham, Alabama to practice with them, but has since moved to Georgia. Bass, meanwhile, makes the drive from his native South Carolina to participate.
Ferguson has hosted Bass and Vedvik at his townhouse after workouts from time to time as well.
Vedvik will be competing with incumbent punter Corey Bojorquez in training camp, while Bass will be challenging veteran kicker Stephen Hauschka.
